Benue, Plateau Killer Herdsmen Not Nigerians, Says Defence Hqrs

NIGERIA’s Defence Headquarters in Abuja has disclosed that armed herdsmen responsible for recent violent attacks in Benue, Plateau and other parts of the country were not Nigerians, but foreign herders who have infiltrated the country through its porous borders.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands displaced, with many victims now in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, in unabated attacks by herdsmen on farming communities, especially in Plateau and and Benue states.
Coroborating Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia’s earlier link of the attacks to foreign herders exploiting the ECOWAS protocol on free movement to cross into Nigeria and terrorise rural communities, Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen. Markus Kangye, speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, May 8, added that the identities, languages and appearances of the attackers indicate they are not Nigerians.
He stated: “When you hear them talk in some instances, you will be able to decipher whether these people are from here or not.
“For instance, if I speak Hausa and my brother from the Southeast speaks Hausa, you’ll know that this Hausa is a borrowed one, and Hausa language, like any other language, has different versions and intonations.
“The Hausa language we speak in Nigeria is different from that of Mali, Central African Republic and Ghana.”
Kangye noted that beyond language, their physical appearance is a giveaway, adding: “So, when we arrest these herders and terrorists, from the way they speak, it is clear and even from their hair, you will tell that they are not from Nigeria.
“I think the only community in Nigeria that has hair similar to the Shuwa in the Sahel region is probably the Shuwa Arabs in Borno State, but they don’t even have the same.”
Kangye, while acknowledging the involvement of some Nigerian herders in farmer-herder conflicts, stressed that the most severe violence had been perpetrated by foreign elements, saying: “There are some herders that are Nigerians that also get involved in the process of rearing their cows.
“Then they encroach into these farms and then before you know it, conflict ensue between the farmers and the herders, and these are the issues we are trying to solve.
“But know that most of the violence and incessant killings you are hearing in some parts of this country are perpetrated by mostly those that find their way into the country through our porous borders.”
He called for stronger inter-agency collaboration to tighten border control and monitor entry points into Nigeria, even as he recalled recent military successes in the fight against insecurity.